Adjustable folding chair



(No Model.)

A. F. BRIGGS.

ADJUSTABLE FOLDING CHAIR.

No. 571,823. Patented Nov. 24, 1896.

wi/bmwoeo NITED STATES PATENT ADELBERT F. BRIGGS, OF NElV LISBON, WISCONSIN.

ADJUSTABLE FOLDING CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 571,823, dated November 24:, 1896.

Application filed August 2 5, l8 9 6.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADELDERT F. BRIGGS, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Lisbon, in the county of Juneau and State of Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Folding Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to folding chairs, and more particularly to folding chairs provided with arms, and one of its objects is to provide a chair with arms attached thereto in such manner that they will add to the comfort and ease of the occupant of the chair and when it is desired to fold the chair will permit of a ready closing thereof into a coinpact position.

Another object of my invention is to provide a folding chair with a back the inclination of which may be varied to suit the wishes of the occupant, and in accomplishing this object to provide a chair which may be used on floors or surfaces of varying degrees of pitch from a horizontal plane.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a folding chair the height of the seat of which may be raised by inclining the stand ards forming the back-support backward and lowered by reversing their inclination, at the same time maintaining the arms of said chair in a position parallel to the plane in which said chair rests.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a folding chair having springs secured to the lower ends of the standards used to form the back, whereby the jarring or shaking motion which occurs on a railroadcar or on a vessel propelled by steam may be rendered less annoying to the occupant of the chair.

These objects I accomplish in the manner and by the means hereinafter more particu larly described in detail, and pointed out in the claims, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which the same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

Figure l is a perspective view of my improved chair ready for use. Fig. 2 is a side View of the same chair in a folded position nearly closed up. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section of my improved chair.

Serial No. 603,869. (No model.)

In carrying out my invention 1 construct the supporting crossed legs of four rectilinear pieces or bars of wood A and A, which should be fiat on one of their sides. The legs A A are connected at their lower ends by the rounds or cross-bars B B, secured thereto by mortiscs and tenons or by boring holes in the legs and fittingthe ends of the rounds therein. The legs A have fitted to their upper ends a round or cross-bar B, the ends of which project a slight distance from each side of the pair. The cross-bar B is preferably cylindrical and is secured to the ends of the legs either by mortises and tenous or by boring the cross-bar and fitting the ends of the legs in the apertures. The ends of the legs should be cut away at the beginning of the tenon thereon to conform to the shape of the crossbar B in order to produce a stronger and neater joint. The pair of legs A" should be placed close enough together to rest within the pair of legs A, with the outer sides of the legs in contact with the pair of legs A, and they are pivotally connected therewith by bolts a, passing therethrough. I prefer to use bolts provided with a flat head, the other end of the bolt being provided with a washer resting in contact with the inner sides of the legs and the end of the bolt riveted thereon. In connecting the pairs of legs with each other the pivotal point should be slightly nearer the upper ends of the pair of legs A and the lower ends of the pair of legs A than their opposite ends, respectively, in order to produce the better proportions of the parts of the chair for comfort in use and for folding the complete chair.

The back of the chair is formed of two straight standards G, placed parallel to each other and connected near their upper ends by the cross-bar O by means of mortises and tenons. These standards are pivoted on the outsides of the legs A and thereto by rivets in the same manner the pairs of legs are pivotally connected. and at a point slightly be low the middle of their ends. The lower ends of the standards are reduced in diameter and are shouldered and have titted thcreover spiral. springs c, the upper ends of which rest against the shoulders formed thereon and have their lower ends projecting below the ends of the standards. The lower ends of the standards thus formed are supported by the legs A at any desired point between the pivotal point thereof and the ends of said legs. To prevent the ends of the standards from slipping on the legs, pins 0 may be in-.

sort-ed therein at the same relative distance in each leg from the ends thereof, the pins 0 projecting a slight distance and over which the spiral spring may be placed for engagement therewith. A tie 0", preferably of sheet metal, to prevent the lower ends of the standards from spreading is secured to the rear sides of the standards near their lower ends by means of nails or screws. Arms D are movably secured to the chair, each arm being preferably formed of two parts joined together by mortises and tenons. \Vhen made of two pieces, the part of the arm (Z is supported in a horizontal position at its forward end by the uprights d, the upper end of which may be set in the under side of (Z at a distance from the end of the latter, while the lower end may be pivotally secured to the outer end of the crossbar B by a bolt or screw passing through the upright and inserted in the end of the cross-bar. The rear ends of the arms (Z are movably supported on the outside of the standards 0 by eyebolts d passing through the standards and riveted on the inner side thereof, the end of the arm d being reduced circumfercntially for a portion of its length to permit it to adjust itself to the varying positions of the standards when the chair is unfolded or when it is closed up. The arms are approximately in a horizontal position at all degrees of adjustment of the inclination of the back of the chair when in use, and this is an important feature of my improved folding chair. The forward ends of the arms provide a comfortable support for the arms of the occupant of the chair and in a position at a right angle from the body. The arms may be made of a single piece of wood bent downward at the point where the upright cl is connected with the horizontal part of the arm without departing from the spirit of my invention. A flexible seat and back-support E, formed in one continuous piece, is secured at its upper end to the cross-bar O, which unites the up per ends of the standards, and its opposite end to the round or cross-bar B. The seat and back-support may be made of any suitable material, and, if desired, may be stuifed or padded. This seat and backsupport readily adjusts itself to the varying inclination of the standards, forming a comfortable seat and also a rest for the small of the back.

lVhen it is desired to fold up the chair, the top of the back is tilted forward and is brought between the arms, the rear ends of the latter moving back in the eyebolts or rings in which they are supported. The crossed legs are at the same time closed, and the flexible seat and back-support is folded and rests between the back and the closed crossed legs.

Large numbers of my improved folding chairs may be piled or stored in a limited space, when folded together, by alternately reversing the ends thereof either when placing them in an upright or in a horizontal position. Such a chair is especially convenient on steamships and excursion trains or boats or any place where large numbers are suddenly put to use. Its construction permits of its use so as to provide a comfortable seat on sloping decks by reason of the ready adj ustment of the inclination of the back standards. The height of the seat also being changeable it may be used by either tall or short persons, the height of the seat being made to vary several inches by tilting the standards forward or back.

I am aware that it is not new to provide the lower ends of chair legs with spiral springs, and I do not broadly claim the use of such springs in a chair; but I am not aware that the standards of adjustable chair-backs have ever been provided with such springs in the manner I now use them.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An adjustable folding chair provided with crossed legs and having hack standards pivotally secured to the ends of the upper rear crossed legs and adj ustably supported on. the lower rear crossed legs of said chair, arms movable lengthwise supported on the outer sides of said standards, said arms supported at their forward ends by uprights pivotally attached at the upper front ends of said crossed legs whereby said arms are held parallel to the plane in'which said chair is supported when said standards are inclined either forward or back, and said chair provided with a seat, substantially as shown and described.

2. A folding chair consisting of back standards and crossed legs, said standards held together at their upper ends by a cross-bar and at their lower ends by a tie and pivotally secured to the upper rear ends of said crossed legs, the lower ends of said standards having springs secured thereon and supported on the rear pair of said crossed legs and said chair provided with a seat supported by said standards and the cross-bar attached to the upper front ends of said crossed legs, substantially as shown and described.

A folding chair provided with legs crossed and pivotally secured to each other in pairs,

said chair provided with a back consisting of two standards held together by a cross-bar and a tie-bar each of said standards pivotally secured to the rear upper ends of said crossed legs, the lower ends of said standards free and adjustably supported on the rear lower crossed legs whereby the back of said chair may be inclined forward or backward, said chair provided with a seat and having arms movable longitudinally at their rear ends supported at the sides of said standards and the forward ends of said arms pivot-ally attached to and supported by a cross-bar secured to the ends of the upper crossed legs, substantially as shown and described.

i. In a folding chair, the combination with the crossed legs thereof, of a back formed of standards pivoted to the upper rear ends of said legs, said stan dards provided with springs on their lower ends resting on the rear legs and means for holding said standards at any desired point thereon, horizontal arms socured to each end of the round of said chair at their forward ends and having their rear ends movably supported at the sides of said standards, a seat and back-support secured at its upper end to the cross-bar of said standards and attached at its opposite end to the round connected to the ends of said legs, substantially as shown and described.

5.. The combination in an adjustable folding chair provided with crossed legs pivotally secured together in pairs, of a back consist ing of a pair of standards held to each other by a cross-bar at the top and a tie-bar at the lower end thereof, said standards pivotally secured to the upper rear ends of said crossed legs and the free ends of said standards adjust-ably supported on the lower rear crossed legs, arms movable longitudinally, loosely secured at their rear ends to said standards and pivotally supported at their forward ends to the cross-bar uniting the upper ends of the upper front crossed legs and a seat and backsupport attached to the cross-bar of said standards and the cross-bar uniting the ends of the upper front crossed legs, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ADELBERT F. ERIGGS. \Vitnesses ARTHUR L. JENNINGS, IRA W. Scorr. 

